The Lost Years
by Melaka-Fray
Summary: We know what happened when Buffy was Called, we know all that's happened after her arrival in Sunnydale, but what about the point between her slaying of Lothos and her entrance on the Hellmouth? (please r&r!!!)**New Chapter 10**
1. After the first Big Bad

Disclaimer: Wishing it was mine...but nope..but hey, thanks to Joss Whedon & company this is way possible!  
  
Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer:  
  
Fifteen-year-old Buffy Anne Summers, a ditzy blonde cheerleader from Los Angeles, is approached by an older man named Merrick, informing her that she is the Chosen One, the Vampire Slayer, the one girl in all the world who has all the power and strength in the world to hunt down all the vampires where they gather, and slay them, thereby stopping the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. Buffy is at first uncertain about the entire thing, and tells Merrick to go find someone else. After awhile, she complies with her destiny, and decides to fight her first Big Bad, Lothos. In her battle, she loses all her friends and becomes estranged from her father and mother, and falls in love with Pike, a slacker mechanic, high school drop out who was going to leave town until Buffy saved him from a group of vampires that were going to feed on him. She kills Lothos (who had killed Merrick earlier) and then burns down the Hemery High School gym, riding off with Pike into the sunset.  
  
"We did it! We so did it!" fifteen-year-old Buffy Summers excitedly exclaimed as she bounced up and down on the back of her boyfriend Pike's motorcycle.  
  
"More like you did it, babe," Pike answered, his smoldering brown eyes looking at the young girl from his rear-view mirror. She seemed so excited, so pleased with the fact that she had just slain her very first Big Bad, and she had survived the battle, even though her high school's gym hadn't. They had had to burn the building down because it was strewn with soon-to- be-vampires. Buffy wasn't too sure what the consequences of her burning down Hemery High's gym would be, but she was sure it wouldn't be pretty. But she wasn't concerned about that now, Pike saw, she was too busy thrilled at the fact that she, a less-than-prepared Vampire Slayer, had killed the centuries old Lothos, who had killed so many Slayers before he had reached her.  
  
"So, now what happens, Buff? Do you stop being the Slayer? Or does it go on? I mean, Merrick." Pike asked gently, pulling over next to a small coffee shop.  
  
"Died.I know. But I don't think it stops, Pike, I really don't. I mean, yeah, I killed Lothos. But I doubt he's still the be-all and end-all of evil. He could just be, like, Rita Repulsa to Lord Zed, you know? A smaller evil to something bigger."  
  
Pike looked at the Slayer with sudden interest. "You watch the Power Rangers?" he asked incredulously, smiling the cocky smile he had given her the first time they had ever met.  
  
"Oh yuck! Like what do I look like, some sort of 'tard? No, Pike, sorry, but it's from babysitting that Perkins kid down the street. He's obsessed with superheroes." Buffy answered back, as Pike held the door of the coffee shop open for her.  
  
Buffy confidently walked in, Pike right behind her. The hostess took a look at Buffy's obviously ripped white dress and leather jacket, and at Pike's torn clothes and wrinkled her nose in disdain, though only for a moment. She smiled and then asked, "So, what'll it be kids? Table or booth?"  
  
"Booth." Pike answered. To Buffy, he said, "They're more comfy."  
  
The fifteen-year-old shrugged and followed Pike and the hostess down to the nearest booth. Pike slid in across from Buffy and gratefully took a menu from the hostess. Buffy received hers, and set it down without opening it.  
  
"So, now what?" Pike asked again.  
  
Buffy shrugged. "I really don't know. I've only been the Slayer for three weeks, Pike. How am I supposed to know? I mean, anything could happen next, you know?"  
  
"Yeah, being with you the past couple of days has given me a pretty fair idea," Pike answered with a charming grin. Buffy shot him a look that threatened instant pulverization if he didn't remain quiet. "Sorry."  
  
The Slayer chuckled for a moment. "It's okay, I was only teasing anyway. But, about what's next? I don't know. I mean, I was going through some of the Watcher's diaries that Merrick had, you know, when we were cleaning up his place? After he died? You'd gone out to Carl's Jr. to get food for us. Anyway, I was going through his journals, and I read some interesting stuff."  
  
"Such as?" Pike prodded.  
  
Buffy opened her mouth to answer when the waitress came by to take their orders. Pike looked the waitress up and down appreciatively. Buffy kicked him in the shin, and Pike sputtered. They quickly ordered their meals (Buffy, chocolate chip pancakes and a cappuccino; Pike a Spanish omelet, coffee, and an extra side of hashed browns) and went back to their conversation.  
  
"What else did you read?" Pike prodded again.  
  
"Well, for one thing," Buffy started, "a lot of the Slayers have died at the hands of other demonic creatures. Incubi, succubae, werewolves, as well as other, darker, nameless things. That means that, even though Lothos has been dusted, there are gonna be other demons I'm going to have to face. The only way it ends for me is if I die."  
  
"The way it's ended for every Slayer."  
  
"Pretty much," Buffy shrugged. "But I won't die. I won't let myself die." Buffy looked Pike straight in the eye, and in a level, serious tone, said, "I'll be a better Slayer than any of the others thus far."  
  
Pike smiled at his girlfriend and leaned over, kissing her on the cheek. "I know you will be babe, and I'll be there for you, to fight by your side."  
  
The blonde haired girl smiled at this, silently hoping he would hold his words true, as their waitress set their food in front of them. She had lost so much already, she thought. Natalie, Kimberly, Merrick, her popularity. She was sure she was going to lose more as soon as she put in an appearance at school Monday morning, but for some reason, she wasn't too frightened. Having Pike with her would make things better, easier, smoother to deal with. He was the one normal thing in her rapidly deteriorating life, and Buffy didn't want to lose him. She couldn't afford to lose him. Her sanity couldn't afford to lose him.  
  
No matter what happened, Buffy assured herself as she took a bite of her pancake, she would come out a champion amongst Slayers, and she would not lose Pike, nor would she lose her life.  
  
She would keep up between being Buffy Summers, high school cheerleader, and Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer. And she'd do a damn fine job of it. 


	2. Consequences

Buffy stared up at the main building of Hemery High nervously early Monday morning. She had tried to go for responsible-cute in a short plaid skirt in baby blue and soft grey and pink, with a matching argyle sleeveless sweater, and a soft pink oxford shirt. She carried her mini-blazer in her arms. She was waiting for her mother to get out of her car so they could go to the principal's office together.  
  
The last weekend had not been a good one for the fifteen-year-old. After Pike had dropped her home Saturday morning, her parents had gone pretty much beasty-style on her. Hank Summers, famous for his hot temper, had grounded his daughter indefinitely, and Joyce had given her the "it's drugs, isn't it?" talk. The same talk, in fact, that Principal Gary Murray had given her just a week or two ago. Buffy grimaced when she realized that. It was time for round three of said discussion, she thought with dismay.  
  
"Are you ready?" Joyce asked, stopping beside her daughter. Joyce's worried eyes bored down into her petite daughter's hazel ones, and the honey-blonde haired girl nodded. Buffy tried her best to breathe properly though. Joyce still didn't know that it was Buffy who had burned down the gym last week.  
  
"As ready as I'll ever be, Mom." Joyce nodded at her daughter, possibly more worried than her daughter was. After all, whatever happened today would most definitely be put on Buffy's transcripts, and if Buffy were to be expelled, then Joyce had no idea what they would do. No school in the LA County district would take her daughter in, she knew. After all, Buffy now had a history of fighting in gangs and taking drugs. Schools weren't too happy with that sort of thing.  
  
The two made their way silently to the principal's office, Joyce visibly upset and nervous, and Buffy trying to ignore the looks of contempt and pity she received from fellow students. She could hear things being whispered about her in the halls, and she tried to ignore them. She overheard, though, someone say she was hooked on drugs, and someone else claim that Buffy was somehow the member of some teenaged Mafia. The Slayer gritted her teeth through all of this. It seemed that it didn't matter that she had saved a good number of Hemery High students at the dance on Friday. All that mattered was that she was a weirdo, a freak, someone to avoid.  
  
Buffy hoped against all odds that she would be expelled, so that she could get a fresh start.  
  
A few moments later found mother and daughter sitting in front of Principal Murray's desk, with Principal Murray having visibly moved all sharp objects far, far away from the desk. It seemed he remembered his last meeting with Buffy, where she had killed a fly with a thumbtack, just by shooting it from her mouth and pinning the fly to the wall. Murray had been shocked by Buffy's precision, and had thus decided to keep all things dangerous away from her. The fact that she had burned down the entire gym just last week did nothing to help him think her a safe young woman.  
  
"Buffy," Principal Murray began, "burned down the gym last week." He turned away from the window, his mouth twitching, and his hand scratching his beard. He stared at Joyce for a moment, and then turned to Buffy. He opened his mouth to say something when Joyce interrupted him.  
  
"She burned down the gym?!" Joyce turned to her daughter. "You burned down the gym? Buffy, you never told us you burned down the gym. You, young lady, are really going to be in deep -"  
  
"Mrs. Summers, please, let me finish first. You and Buffy may work out whatever problems you may have at home," Murray said pertly to Joyce, cutting off her outburst. Joyce stared at Principal Murray, a none-too- happy expression across her lovely, usually peaceful face. "Anyway, as I was saying, Buffy has burned down the gym, and beyond that she has, in the past few weeks, been tardy an innumerable amount of times, and has also skipped very many of her classes and cheerleading practices. That shows bad behavior for the captain of the squad. Neither her gang fight last week nor her wreaking havoc at one of our games two weeks ago helps her record much, I'm afraid. I'm sorry to say, Mrs. Summers, that your daughter will have to be expelled from Hemery High School. Immediately. She has a fifteen minutes to clean out her locker."  
  
"Principal Murray," Joyce began, not about to give up, "is there nothing we can do, or that you can do, to keep Buffy in school here?"  
  
Murray gave Joyce a look of pure exasperation as he said, "Mrs. Summers, your daughter burned down the gym for whatever reason she saw fit. She is a juvenile delinquent, and hence I am afraid that under no circumstances will Buffy be allowed to stay here. I'm truly very sorry, but I am sure that there are a good many private schools that may accept your daughter, even this late in the year. If not, reform school is always an option."  
  
"Reform school?!" Buffy sputtered, sitting up a little bit straighter. "Principal Murray, haven't you noticed the weird things that have been going on in LA? I mean, the sudden deaths, the disappearances, all the freaky things that have become LA? I had good reason to burn down the gym that night, and if you remember the night in detail, you will realize that I had good reason to as well!"  
  
"And that so-called 'good reason' is?" Murray asked skeptically.  
  
Buffy ignored his tone, and ignored Merrick's early warning, when she blurted, "Vampires. The gym was infested with vampires, and hence I had to burn down the gym to stop them all from rising."  
  
"Vampires? You expect me to believe this?" Murray asked, just as Joyce, in unison, asked, "Buffy, are you on hallucinogens?"  
  
"Yes! And no!"  
  
"Look, Miss Summers, I appreciate that you try to justify your actions, no matter how odd an excuse you give, but there is nothing that I can do. You must leave Hemery High behind you."  
  
"Principal Murray, I'm telling the truth!"  
  
Murray nodded at Buffy sympathetically. "Of course you are." He then turned to Joyce once more, this time picking up a card off his desk and handing it to her. "This may help," he said, handing her a card for a well-known child psychologist. "Call her anytime."  
  
Joyce nodded, defeated, and accepting the card. "Thank you, Principal Murray."  
  
He nodded at them once, and bid them farewell and good luck.  
  
Buffy gulped as she left the office behind her mother, knowing that things could only go downhill from here onwards. 


	3. Grounded

"You're grounded. No more cheerleading, no more dating, no more mall, no more hanging out with your friends, nothing." Hank Summers said harshly in the Summers' living room that night. Buffy, Hank, and Joyce were seated around their plush leather couch set, Buffy curled up with a leather cushion and her parents opposite her. Opposing her. Of course, she realized, they had their reasons. How could they ever understand that her school had been infested with vampires? And yet.  
  
"But Dad, I had my reasons for doing what I did!"  
  
Hank Summers sighed, rubbing his five o'clock shadow, obviously stressed out. He took a look at his fifteen-year-old daughter, curled up on the couch. She looked so innocent, dressed in a pair of very pastel pink pajama bottoms with printed baby blue winged pigs, and a baby blue tank. She looked so young, and sweet, and so.harmless. He couldn't believe that it was his daughter who had burned the gym down, but concrete proof proved him wrong, since that was what proof did, prove things wrong or right.  
  
"Yes, you told us," Joyce said, giving her husband's voice a break. "Vampires. Really, Buffy, I don't know where you come up with these things, but vampires simply don't exist. I thought your father and I had solved your monster belief when you were five, with the whole Power Girl costume."  
  
Buffy sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought. "Look, Mom, Dad, I'm telling you the truth! There were vampires, which I had to get rid of! I mean, hello? If I didn't we'd so be walking blood bags for them!"  
  
"Buffy Anne Summers!" Joyce exclaimed gruffly. Buffy sat straight up, the cushion falling off her lap and onto the couch. "You will sit quiet this instant and listen to what your father and I say to you!"  
  
"But Mom-"  
  
"Don't but Mom me, young lady! Now, as your father said, you will go to your room and you will not use the phone to talk to anyone. Not Kimberly, not Natalie, no one! And furthermore, you are not to go out anywhere, and-"  
  
"Alright, Mom, getting the picture!" Buffy said, holding up her hand as though it were the white flag of surrender. "No more socializing..like anyone's gonna wanna after Friday. Anyway, fine, I get it. Grounded for pretty much life. I'm going." The young girl stood up, but was stopped at the entrance by Hank's voice.  
  
"Look Buffy, we are sorry," he said, his voice timid, "but you have to understand that this is hard on us as well."  
  
"But we'll do the best we can to make things better." Joyce chimed in. "We'll find a private school or something. But for now."  
  
"I know," Buffy said solemnly, "my room. I'm gone." The Slayer quietly made her way upstairs to her room, wishing there were someway that she could make her parents see that she wasn't a juvenile delinquent. 


	4. Back on the Hunt

"Buffy." The slightest whisper came from outside her room. There was a tapping on her window, again, accompanied by her name being whispered softly. "Buffy."  
  
"Hmm?" the Slayer stirred in her dreamless sleep.  
  
"Buffy."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Buffy!"  
  
"Huh? Wha-?!" The Slayer tumbled out of her bed and onto the floor in a tumble that was made of herself, a comforter, bed sheets, and her stuffed pig Mr. Gordo. She sat up, pushing her blonde hair out of her hazel eyes and peaches and cream face. She got up lazily slumped over to the window, where she saw large brown eyes looking right into her face. Buffy stifled a scream when she realized it was Pike's eyes staring back at her. She gave him a sweet smile as she opened the window, perching herself on the ledge. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.  
  
"Hey beautiful." Pike greeted her, leaning in to kiss her softly on the lips. Buffy kissed him back and then pulled apart, smiling sweetly as he brushed back a lock of her honey-blonde hair.  
  
"Hey yourself," Buffy greeted back. "What brings you here late at night?"  
  
"Basically you, Buff. Heard you were grounded, and thought I would stop by and see how you're doing. So, how are you?"  
  
"Mmm, bad." Buffy sighed as she stared into her boyfriend's eyes. "Kicked outta Hemery, pretty much no life left, coz, hello, grounded. Speaking of which, how did you know I was grounded anyway?"  
  
"The vampires. You haven't been out for the past couple of nights, and Lothos' followers have been talking. The Slayer's been in hiding, and they're out partying."  
  
"So, what, they're out wreaking havoc?"  
  
"Pretty much, Buff. Only, I'm trying to keep them at bay. I'm just no Slayer."  
  
"No, of course you aren't. That would be me. The Grounded One."  
  
"The Chosen One, Buff. And don't worry, it'll be over soon enough."  
  
"Right, when all of LA becomes New Transylvania. Good show for the Vampire Slayer, don't you think?"  
  
"Buff-"  
  
"No, you know what? I should go, right now, to patrol."  
  
"Buffy, I don't think that's-"  
  
"The best plan?" Buffy cut him off. "It may not be, but I'm the Slayer, so it's pretty much my job. I need to be out there, Pike. I've already missed a few nights of patrol; I can't really afford to skip anymore. God knows how many more people have died already since I haven't been out."  
  
"But your parents-"  
  
"I'll be back before they realize I'm missing. Now, come on."  
  
Minutes later found Buffy, dressed in blue jeans and a navy blue hooded sweatshirt, scouring the streets of LA with Pike in tow. Buffy was heavily armed with wooden stakes and holy water. Pike had pretty much the same, along with a massive wooden cross around his neck.  
  
"So, three vampires already." Buffy ventured forth, as a way of conversation.  
  
"Yeah, they're really out and partying."  
  
"Do you even blame them? I mean, the local Slayer was out of the scene, so, party-time. But still, three? In fifteen minutes? That's a bit much, Pike."  
  
"That is true, but -"  
  
"Ssssslayerrrrrr."  
  
"Oh, god, you know, I really hate it when you people do that," Buffy started to say, turning whipping around, freshly sharpened stake in hand. She stopped for a moment when she recognized the feral yellow eyes of the armless vampire. "Amilyn" she said, not amiably. "Weren't you dusted?"  
  
Amilyn, Lothos' main sidekick, snarled at Buffy. "You killed my master."  
  
"Yeah, he pretty much deserved it. Why are you living?"  
  
"I'm the new king." Amilyn stated, as though it were a matter of fact.  
  
Pike guffawed. "You, a vampire king? Please, Lefty, you made a terrible minion. Dude, how are you going to be a vampire king?!"  
  
"Silence, fool!"  
  
"Oh please. The wannabe regal talk? Lose it. I like you better when you're the newest third party to Beavis and Butthead." She started moving up to him when Amilyn suddenly started to rise up into the air. It was a special power, she had found out, of the followers of Lothos. So far as she knew, no one else had those powers. That much she was thankful for.  
  
Pike stopped him by chucking a vial full of holy water at him. Amilyn fell, face first, right in front of Buffy. The Slayer lifted him up, her face a mask of anger, and demanded, "Okay Lefty, spill it. What's been going down the past few days?"  
  
"N-nothing. Really. I-I..I just wanted to, you know, build a vampiric empire and -"  
  
"You know this is your end, don't you?"  
  
Amilyn whimpered. "Y-yeah."  
  
"Good, coz really, I don't like you. And your plan? Wouldn't have worked anyway. You're pretty much a brainless drone, so.." Buffy slammed the stake home, and watched him crumble into dust and ash.  
  
"Hmm. Easiest kill tonight." Pike remarked.  
  
"Yeah. Guess the rest of the night will go pretty well too," Buffy perkily replied.  
  
"Yeah. So.coffee break?" Pike asked, a mischievous grin spreading across his adorable face.  
  
"Coffee is..good." Buffy smiled back, knowing full well what the seventeen- year-old slacker meant by coffee.  
  
The young couple, holding hands, headed towards their favorite café, beheading one more vamp on the way. 


	5. Skeffington Academy

"This is pure torture!" Buffy grumbled, as she looked herself in the mirror. "I mean, can you say generic? I feel like I'm K-Mart's customer of the year."  
  
"Oh come on now, hun, its not that bad," Joyce said, perched on Buffy's bed with a cup of coffee. The two were getting ready for Buffy's first day of school early Wednesday morning, and Buffy was none too pleased. She had discovered that Hank and Joyce had found a private school that was willing to take Buffy in, for a special, higher fee of course. Buffy wasn't too thrilled, but at least she was getting some sort of education. But if only she could do something about the uniform..  
  
"Oh please Mom! I mean, look at this thing! I look like something out of Satan's School for Girls!" Buffy exclaimed, pointing down to a tacky gray skirt, a maroon sweater, and a light blue shirt with a red, blue, yellow, and green striped tie. "I mean, whoever thought of this color scheme was either blind or had no sense of right or wrong. Ugh..I feel all icky."  
  
"Buffy, please. Everyone else will be wearing the same thing as you, so don't feel too bad. And why do you keep on bringing up references to vampires and Satan and things? Are you in some sort of cult I should know about?"  
  
Buffy sighed, hoping this time her mother didn't launch into some sort of lecture about how her supposed gang activities were going to ruin her life. The tackily dressed teenager decided to cut her mom off at the pass by saying, "No Mom, no cults. There are no cults, no gangs, no drugs, nothing. I'm telling you, it was vamp.." Buffy stopped mid sentence, not seeing any reason to go on with the argument. "It was...rats. Lots and lots of rats."  
  
"Rats? Buffy, I -"  
  
"Umm, Mom? Never mind what I just said. So, about this school..."  
  
"Welcome to the Children's Penitentiary," Buffy remarked as her mother's SUV pulled up in front of Skeffington Private Academy. The school looked almost drab, with pale, dusty gray walls and a horribly shingled roof that was an indeterminable shade of either gray or brown. The courtyard of the school looked deserted, and Buffy guessed that everyone was already in homeroom.  
  
"Buffy, please, just give it a chance. You never really gave us much of an option, now, did you? I mean, no public school would take you in, not even in any of the surrounding districts, and your father and I only had this one choice left. Please, just give it a shot for your father and me."  
  
The young Slayer sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, sure. But, if I don't like it, I'm so audi, okay?"  
  
"Sure. I'm sure there are many fast-food joints that would love to have you as their employee of the month."  
  
"Thanks for the support, Mom."  
  
"Anytime, dear. It's what mothers are for," Joyce replied, smirking ever so slightly. It was during those moments when Buffy saw where she got her sarcastic, yet lighthearted, banter.  
  
"So..showtime."  
  
"Showtime it is."  
  
***  
  
"Miss Summers," Principal Gretchen Skinner said by way of greeting once Buffy and Joyce were seated in a large, dark office filled with mahogany furniture and books, and dark bold blues, greens and reds.  
  
"Principal Skinner." Buffy greeted back, her voice slightly cold. There was something off about this woman, Buffy noticed, and whatever it was, Buffy didn't like it. Her spider-senses tingled. This woman was bad news.  
  
"You were kicked out of your old school for burning down the gym."  
  
"Is that a statement or a question? Coz, it's pretty much all on my permanent record there." Buffy said.  
  
Joyce shot her daughter a look that conveyed all too clearly the message 'Calm down, or else.'  
  
"You're a saucy one. I don't like saucy ones. And yes, it was a statement."  
  
"Oh. Just checking."  
  
"Just checking?" Skinner asked, giving Buffy a cruel look.  
  
"Yeah. I'm sorry, do I seem too abrupt or disrespectful? Maybe I should be quiet."  
  
"Yes, maybe you should."  
  
"On the other hand -"  
  
"Buffy!" Joyce snapped.  
  
"No wonder your daughter got kicked out of her old school, Mrs. Summers. She's not most polite person I've ever seen. No matter, though. Skeffington can change all that. I trust she will be starting today?"  
  
"Yes, she will be," Joyce agreed. "Good. Why don't you go on ahead, Mrs. Summers, and Buffy and I can take it from here."  
  
Buffy looked up, her mouth gaping. Whatever this Skinner was, Buffy knew she couldn't very well slay her. After all, nine out of ten, Skinner was probably a human. But, then again, this was LA, land of a thousand freaks. Skinner could be a succubus for all Buffy knew.  
  
Joyce agreed and, kissing Buffy good-bye, left. Buffy and Skinner stared at each other a moment, Buffy with a wooden letter opener in her hands and Skinner with a metal one. Buffy let her imagination run for a moment, envisioning herself and Skinner engaged in a demonic battle. There was definitely something about this woman, and Buffy decided to clear up the matter then and there.  
  
"Okay, so who..or what..are you? I mean, you are a who or a what, so just gimme the details." Buffy's voice was stern, hard, the voice of a Slayer.  
  
"You're a smart girl."  
  
"Pretty much have to be to survive. Who are you?"  
  
"Gretchen Skinner," the woman said, extending a hand, "former Watcher, now principal of this school."  
  
"Former Watcher..." Buffy said, echoing Skinner. Buffy was silent for a moment. Was all this just a coincidence? Merrick had just died recently, and suddenly she found this new Watcher, or former Watcher anyway, in her life. Buffy wondered what it all meant.  
  
"You're probably wondering as to what my significance is to you here, yes?" Skinner asked Buffy, examining the Slayer's lost expression. "Well, let me make it clear for you. Nothing. I was a Watcher, but no more. And frankly, I don't care if you are the Slayer. You will get no special rules. No special treatment. Nothing. You will be treated like every other student."  
  
It only took Buffy a moment to figure out why Skinner had such an attitude, and as soon as she realized, Buffy's hazel eyes widened and she smiled at her principal, a cold, knowing smile. "You're bitter," Buffy stated. "You're bitter because you were never Chosen. You trained until the age of eighteen, but the Powers That Be never Chose you." Buffy smirked. "I don't believe this. You were never Chosen, and you became merely a Watcher, replaceable, like everyone else. You hated that, didn't you, Skinner?"  
  
"I'm not answerable to you."  
  
"That pretty much says all you don't want to say. And you know what? It's okay. Hold your grudge. I so don't care. I'll show you that I can stay here and not get kicked out. I'll be a better Slayer than you ever thought you could be, Skinner. And I'll lead a normal life too."  
  
"Don't you dare be smug with me. And don't you dare challenge me, Miss Summers, or you'll regret it."  
  
"Too late Skinner. Already have. This? This means war."  
Hey guys! Thanks a lot for the reviews and encouragement! I've taken a few liberties here with the story, kinda making it A/U..so..sorry for you that disagree..but I just thought I'd be kinda cool if she had like a month of adventures before the mental institute. So, please continue reading and reviewing, coz it totally helps a lot! And, like, totally enjoy, k?  
  
*~*Amit*~* 


	6. Lunch with Kaatje

Buffy furtively looked around the Skeffington cafeteria, looking for a place to sit. She'd been in school for four hours now, and she still hadn't met anyone to talk to, or become acquainted with. Her guess? They all knew she'd been kicked out of Hemery for burning down the gym. She hoped that little story would leave her behind sometime soon, because frankly, in the past few days, it had caused way too much drama for her liking. She caught a few disapproving stares from snobby rich girls and a few lusty looks from some cute guys, but she ignored it all, trying to concentrate on finding a decent spot to eat the discolored glop that Skeffington's cafeteria called cheese soufflé.  
  
"Need a friend?" a voice female voice piped up behind her. Buffy whirled around and came face to face with a girl about her age and height, who, despite the uniform, still managed to maintain her own personality through her own style of dress. The girl had hair that was obviously dyed black, but her bangs were colored in red, green, blue, pink, orange, yellow, and purple. The girl had a tiger printed, cat eared headband in her hair. She wore funky cat eyeglasses in a white, marble print, and her green eyes were heavily lined with maroon eyeliner. Buffy could also make out aqua and yellow eye shadow, and maroon mascara. She was an interesting looking girl, to say the least. But she seemed nice.  
  
Buffy gave her a sweet smile, as if she were thanking her for her kindness and said, "Yeah, I'd like that. I'm Buffy. Buffy Anne Summers." The fifteen- year-old balanced her tray on one hand and gave her other out.  
  
"I'm Kaatje," she said, doing the name.  
  
"Kaatje. Pretty name. And nice to meet you."  
  
"Oh, it's Dutch. And same here. Umm, anyway, seating?"  
  
"Oh yeah, right." Buffy gave a small laugh. "Anywhere is pretty much cool."  
  
"'K" Kaatje said, leading Buffy to a table near the front of the cafeteria. The two girls caught a table next to the wall on the far right, and sat down opposite each other.  
  
"How do you like it here so far?" Kaatje asked, taking a bite of her soufflé.  
  
"It's alright," Buffy began, "can't really say though, 'coz, you know, haven't been here much. But the people seem..well, I dunno how quite to put it but-"  
  
"Mildly stuck-up? You're right, they are. Rich kids, you can't really help it, you know?"  
  
"I get you." Buffy's voice came out a little regretful. A few weeks ago, before her Calling, Buffy herself had been a stuck-up snob who looked down upon those she considered lesser than her. Being the Slayer had made her realize that there were more important things in life, and Buffy had since grown. "So, how long have you been here?"  
  
"Well, I've been here since daycare."  
  
"Since daycare?!"  
  
"Well, yeah. See, my mom moved back here from England when I was about three, and then opened this place. So, umm, she made herself principal of the school and-"  
  
Buffy cut Kaatje off immediately, exclaiming, "Your mother is Skinner?!"  
  
Kaatje smiled at Buffy's outburst, quite used to it by now. "Yeah, would you believe it? We're completely different from each other. Oh, um, as you can see." Kaatje giggled for a moment. "But yeah, she's my mom. Don't really get any special treatment though. Mom believes in pure and utter discipline."  
  
"Yeah," Buffy sighed, "I can see that."  
  
"Don't take her the wrong way, Buffy. Mom's strict, I mean, yeah, her nickname is 'the Beast' and all, but she means well. Really, she does. She's been trai- er, teaching me, like, how to be a better person...and stuff. Just give her a chance, okay? She's tough on all the newcomers."  
  
Buffy slowly nodded, realizing that Kaatje was probably right. Sure, Buffy was a lot on edge lately, but she couldn't help it. Things were just weird, and she was going off on everyone, besides maybe Pike. And she couldn't get mad at him that easily. He was way too sweet, and besides, she kinda sorta loved him.  
  
Catching herself before she lost herself in her dreams, Buffy asked Kaatje, "So, like, you and your mom. You guys are very close, I take it?"  
  
"Oh, extremely," Kaatje said, attacking her green and blue clumps of jell-o with gusto. "Coz, you know, I am all she has and she's all I have...so we tend to get close. I can't remember a life, really, without her, myself, and the Academy. It's all such an innate part of my life. But Mom..she has big plans for me, or so she says. Plans beyond the Academy, and life here in LA. She won't tell me what, but for years she's been trying to get in touch with an old friend of hers for me. Some sort of special school or something." Kaatje paused for a moment, licking one final clump of jell-o off her spoon. "Hehehe. I just realized I've been going on and on about myself. Why don't you tell me some stuff about you?"  
  
"Not much to say, really. From Hemery High. I'm an ex-cheer-"  
  
"Whoa, Hemery? The school whose gym was burnt down by some chosen psycho- loony last week?!" Kaatje interjected. She then saw the look of pain upon Buffy's face and realized who the afore mentioned psycho-loony was. "Oh..sorry."  
  
"'S alright," Buffy said, accepting the apology. After all, she couldn't really blame Kaatje. It wasn't everyday a fifteen-year-old cheerleader burnt down the high school gym. "But yeah, that was me. So, ex-cheerleader, pretty much an ex-flake too. The rich, snobby girls here? I was pretty much like that. Well, not financially maybe, but attitude-wise, and with a keen fashion sense. Kinda started changing the past few weeks..started realizing things, and the gym? Pretty much the last straw of my old, flaky ways."  
  
"Got tired of cheerleading?"  
  
"No. Not that as much as fate got tired of letting me stay a nice, trendy, and normal fifteen-year-old girl."  
  
"Normal? Buffy, I agree I haven't known you long. Perhaps just a half-hour, but you seem pretty normal to me."  
  
Buffy gave Kaatje a half-smile there, a smile that was almost sarcastic. "You don't know me yet, then."  
  
"I would like to get to know you better. You seem nice, down-to-earth."  
  
"Thank you...but friendship and closeness? Sorry, Kaatje, but not big on my books. There's a lot of things that people won't understand..and I kind of just need a break from people, you know? Don't get me wrong. We can totally hang out and stuff..but I just lost some of my best friends, and I don't think I wanna risk making anymore friends just to lose them. It's just..too messy. But, you know, if we do become really close friends..it's cool...and...I'm just confused, can you tell?"  
  
Kaatje nodded briskly. "Yeah, but it's okay. We all go through odd times. But things? Pretty much always improve, so keep a smiling face, k?"  
  
"Yeah, I will. In the meantime, though," Buffy said, looking at her Swatch watch, "I've got a date with chemistry."  
  
"Cool, cool. So, maybe catch you later then?"  
  
"Yeah, that'd be nice."  
  
"Bye then."  
  
"Laters." Buffy answered, getting up with her tray and giving Kaatje another smile. The Slayer then left to exit the cafeteria, after dumping her tray. As she left, though, she saw Skinner give her an odd look, almost a jealous glare. Buffy decided to ignore it, and exited the noisy room, all the while pondering as to whether she really wanted any close friends and also wondering what Principal Skinner's issue really was.  
  
***  
  
Hey guys! It's me again. So, okay, the rudeness and the confusedness that is Buffy Anne Summers? Mainly coz she's not who Buffy was when she moved to Sunnydale, she's still developing into that person, so she's a bit of a problem kid right now, kind of unsure about stuff, deep down inside. Anyway, thanks for the reviews and stuff, and I hope to hear more from you guys, and I hope you guys like all this so far! Thanks again!  
  
Ciao  
  
*~*Amit*~* 


	7. Patrol and a Plan

"So, she's what, Buff, your new Watcher?" Pike asked Buffy late that night as the young couple patrolled the streets.  
  
So far, Buffy and Pike had come across two vampires and one particularly stupid zombie, whose head Pike had bashed in with his baseball bat. Interestingly, it was only one a.m., and Buffy and Pike had only been out since half-past midnight. The slayings had been done pretty quickly thus far, and Buffy was still pumping full of energy. Pike, on the other hand, seemed to not enjoy the slaying as much. To Buffy, it seemed like he just came on patrol with her because of her, not because he was doing something for a good cause. Ditto for the instance when Pike had run around slaying a couple of nights back. It seemed he only did because her cared for her. Buffy's guess was, if she ever died, Pike would probably skip town and become a beach bum somewhere rather than fight the good fight. Somewhere deep inside, that fact irked Buffy, but she couldn't blame him. After all, she would do the same if she could. But she had duties. She was the Slayer. 'Right,' Buffy thought, 'the not-by-choice Chosen One. If only suing the Powers That Be was possible.'  
  
"Buffy?" Pike asked again. "What is she, babe? Like, your new Watcher or something?"  
  
Buffy snapped to attention with the second question and immediately replied, "No. I really don't think so. I mean, she said she wasn't a Watcher anymore. Maybe it's just, you know, just a coincidence."  
  
"Or maybe it's just fate. For all you know, the Council could just re- instate her and put you in her charge."  
  
"Oh god, I hope not. She seems like such a bitch!"  
  
"She can't be that bad."  
  
"No, maybe she's not. But she does give me a wiggins, Pike. Something's wrong there, I can see that in just one meeting. Wonder what's gonna happen next."  
  
"Hopefully not anything too bad, Buff."  
  
"I'm thinking no, but then you never know. And....I kinda went all beasty- style on her, right? I declared war between me and her."  
  
"With the principal of your new school?!" Pike exclaimed. "Buff, what were you thinking?!"  
  
"That's exactly it, Pike! I so wasn't! I mean, I sensed a vibe and I went for it. It's kinda hard to just suddenly have to lead two lives, you know? For you it's easier, because, okay, no offense, but mechanic? So, you know, you socialize with cars. I have to walk around wondering if I have any disguised demons in my school!"  
  
"You know," Pike started, slightly offended, "cars can be evil too. That book by Stephen King, Christine? The car is way evil there, Buff."  
  
Buffy sighed. How could she explain that cars couldn't be demons? After all, demons had to embody some living thing, and a car...well, a car wasn't technically living. "Pike," she started carefully, "vehicular possession is only a thing of books and fantasy."  
  
Pike smirked at Buffy when she said this. "Demonic cars a thing of fantasy? Buffy, look at you? You have a full-time job as a Vampire Slayer. You know, one girl, in all the world, Chosen to track down the vampires where they gather and stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers? With a cool catch phrase like that, how can you even say that other things are of fantasy? Coz, you know, vampires, and the killing of them? It's all a little too Van Helsing."  
  
Buffy turned and poked Pike in the ribs playfully. "Okay, so like, I get what you mean by that....but vampires are way much more believable than demonic cars. Even Melrose Place is more believable than demonic cars!"  
  
"Touché." Pike said, defeated. "So, umm, where to now Buff? There's no vamp activity here," he commented, looking around him.  
  
"Yeah, you're right," Buffy admitted, massaging her lower abdomen, which was where she usually felt a cramp-like tingling when there were vampires nearby. There was, though, nothing but peace there. "There aren't any vampires here."  
  
"So, now where to? We've only been patrolling for an hour or so."  
  
"I'm thinking cemetery, and then swinging over by Hemery before we go back home."  
  
"Works for me." Pike took Buffy's hand in his. Buffy intertwined her fingers with his happily, feeling safe because he was with her, even though she was the superhero. They walked on like that, patrolling, sharing fantasies, being in love. Buffy didn't want this to end.  
  
***  
  
While the two lovers stayed out, slaying and dreaming, Gretchen Skinner quietly sat in the expansive library of her Bel Air mansion. She had many books on the occult open in front of her, and she cross-referenced this piece of information with that while sipping on her imported tea.  
  
It was late, she knew, but the former Watcher had much to do. It wasn't by pure coincidence that the current Chosen One had fallen into her own lap. No, it had to be more than that. It was much more than that. It was, in fact, pure fate.  
  
Skinner smiled to herself, happier than she had been in a long time. Oh yes, she had the Slayer, and that too, a brand-new one. And she could tell that this one was barely even trained.  
  
Everything was falling into place beautifully.  
  
Everything would soon be perfect, and would soon be just as they should be. 


	8. Nightmares

Images. Dark, terrible images. A dark chamber. Lit candles. Vampiric skulls dripping blood. Daemonic bones rattling. There was a dagger, sharp, and made of gold and platinum. A bejeweled crucifix. An ancient African urn. Flashes of golden yellow light and bruise purple electricity. And then, somewhere in the midst of it all, a voice, steeped in evil and mystery, screaming "At last! At last!"  
  
The images change. They shift, changing into something else. The folds of destiny, the twirling hands of fate. The line of Slayers, girls, women, who had all come before her. Lucy Hanover, Kishi Minomoto, the Primal Slayer, Robin Whitby, White Doe, Mollie Prater, Betty Spring, Kiki Kidman, and so many others.  
  
A line of Slayers, each girl's thread of life cut by some horrible monster. Buffy knows many of their names, but how, she does not know. It's an innate, base knowledge. It is the deep knowledge that every Slayer has. Buffy sees the death of each Slayer, and the Calling of the next. She sees how the Powers That Be endow the Slayer with her gifts, and how They skip over the other Slayers-in-Training. Buffy sees the others' disappointment, their pain, their regret, their hope that it will be them Chosen next time. And then she sees some of the other girls, the ones who are not unhappy about being passed over this time. They're overjoyed for now.  
  
That's when Buffy sees it. Kiki's pain at being Chosen, and Skinner's pain - and burning hatred - that it is not her who was Chosen. Then, the black aura that slowly starts to surround Skinner, enveloping her slowly. And then, the words, flowing out of Skinner's mouth, "At last." The glimmer of a golden blade in Skinner's hands, and Skinner murdering Kiki in cold blood. The Powers choose someone else, but not Skinner.  
  
And Skinner's anger grows, and grows. And, finally, Skinner kills her own Slayer, a ruthless, evil expression upon her once sweet features. The Watchers excommunicates her from the Council, and she leaves, to America, with a baby in her arms. And some sort of vow or promise.  
  
A vow that Buffy does not hear. But Buffy can feel the tone of the vow, and it's evil. Pure, untainted evil.  
  
***  
  
Buffy stumbled into school the next morning feeling extremely drained. Her hazel eyes were kind of red and puffy, and no amount of make-up really hid it. Her blonde hair was pulled back haphazardly and was held in place by two pencils. Her tie was loose and her shirt untucked. Buffy wasn't the chirpiest person that morning. She'd dragged herself out of bed and quickly showered and changed. Unfortunately, she had missed homeroom and was late for first period anyway.  
  
Buffy couldn't rub off the eerie feeling of last night's dream, though she couldn't really remember much. She did, though, remember seeing the Callings and the deaths of many Slayers, and she knew that Gretchen Skinner had put in a guest appearance somewhere, and there had been some bad mojo surrounding her, but Buffy wasn't too sure what. The Slayer sighed. She'd figure it out soon enough, but first, she had a first period class to walk in tardy to.  
  
Or never, judging by the fact that Principal Skinner was walking towards her right that moment.  
  
"Miss Summers," Skinner said pertly.  
  
"Principal Skinner," Buffy greeted, trying her best to sound cordial, wondering if she actually succeeded. "Good morning."  
  
"Good and lazy, I see, Miss Summers."  
  
"Yeah, well, late night. You know how it is, being the Slayer and all. Wait, no, you don't. You never were." Buffy shot her a bubbly-yet-bitchy smile. "In any case, you were a Potential once upon a time. You have a fair idea." She glanced at her watch. "Hmm, I'm late."  
  
"That's not the only thing you are."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Detention. Tonight. My office. Two hours."  
  
"You've got to be kidding me."  
  
"Sorry, Miss Summers. I warned you yesterday. You won't be treated specially. Now, control your attitude. Go, now. And remember, my eyes are on you. "  
  
Buffy nodded and headed up the stairs and through the double doors to her first period Math class.  
  
***  
Los Angeles International Airport  
  
Kennard York got off his British Airways flight, rubbing his steel grey eyes tiredly. His rich, wavy black curls were in disarray and his flowing linen suit was rumpled. His carry-on bag was slung over his shoulder, and his tie was loose. Kennard had left England in a hurry at the request of the Watcher's Council. After all, he thought as he hailed a taxi, someone had to watch over the current Vampire Slayer. 


	9. discussions

"Buffy!" Kaatje called out later that afternoon. "Hey, Buffy, wait up!"  
  
Buffy stopped in mid-step and turned around just in time to see an even more outlandishly styled Kaatje Skinner halt in front of her. The principal's daughter had on rainbow fishnet stockings, feather-trimmed Mary Janes in patent pink leather, earrings that resembled Christmas baubles, and a massive turquoise rock in her nose. Her hair was in five different ponytails.  
  
"Hey," Buffy greeted her acquaintance, giving her a soft smile. "What's up?"  
  
"Ooh, well, nothing. Just, you know, wanted to see how your second day of school was, and all."  
  
Buffy wrinkled her nose as the girls fell in step together. They had discovered the day before that their sixth period classes fell next to each other, hence the girls had some hangout time between them. "Let's just say that yesterday was better."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yeah. Was late. And then, well, you know, bad impression on Ski- Principal Skinner. You know, burned down my old gym, late here. I'm sure she's gonna kick me out by the end of this week."  
  
"Hmm, no, I don't think so Buffy. Mom's never really expelled a student. I mean, she does detention and stuff -"  
  
"Which I have."  
  
"- but she's never expelled anyone. You have detention? On your second day?!"  
  
"Your mom loves me so much she wants two hours with me after school," the Slayer dryly stated as she leaned against a locker next to her classroom.  
  
Kaatje laughed. "Hmm, you know, if you like, I could talk her out of it."  
  
"Oh, hey, no, you so don't have to do that. I can like totally do detention. It's just like...being a Jew during the Holocaust in a pit full of Nazis. Oh god, I don't want to do this. But hey, I'm the Slay-I mean, I'm the slacker...of after-school hours, hence, you know, detention good. Good detention."  
  
"I'll talk to my mom."  
  
"No, really.."  
  
"I insist Buffy."  
  
The fair-haired girl nodded appreciatively. "If you want to."  
  
"I do. But, for now, class."  
  
"Yeah, class."  
  
"Meet me after this period and we'll talk to her, k?"  
  
"Alright. Till then, girlfriend."  
  
"Bye."  
  
*** An hour later found Buffy and Kaatje standing inside Gretchen Skinner's office, Buffy idly wondering whether or not Skinner could possibly hate her worse for having Kaatje try to cancel Buffy's detention, and Kaatje herself wondering what her mother could have against Buffy.  
  
Skinner, who was marking some papers, looked up as the two girls stopped in front of her desk, and her eyes brightening at the sight of her daughter and narrowing at the sight of the Slayer. "Kaatje. Miss Summers," Skinner greeted both girls, her voice a little more bitter when she said Buffy's name. "How may I help you?"  
  
"Mom, about Buffy's detention -"  
  
"No."  
  
"But Mom, she's new! I mean, you can't possibly punish her on her second day of school. Not after what she's been through!"  
  
"Kaatje, I understand very well that your new friend has been through some...hell....but really now, she is a juvenile delinquent, and I believe that some punishment is in order for her."  
  
"Umm, okay, hello, standing right here?" Buffy said. "And, punishment? Listen Skinner, puni-"  
  
"Buffy. Stop," Kaatje nudged her. She then turned to her mother and said, "Mom, please. Just this once? I won't ask for Buffy again, but...you know, first week? Come on..."  
  
Skinner sighed. Kaatje could be stubborn, and seeing as she didn't have very many friends, it made sense that she would do something sweet for Buffy to make friends with her. But, Skinner thought, she didn't want her daughter to get too close to the new girl. Things would become too complicated. But, she supposed, for now it would be alright. She might have need of Buffy later, and she didn't want the Slayer to outright hate her, though there was much animosity between the two females already. Oh well, she'd just have to have a chat with Kaatje that night.  
  
"Fine," the principal agreed vocally. "Buffy, you're detention is cancelled. But just this once. And don't let this go to you head either. I won't let my daughter come and do this many more times. You may go now."  
  
Buffy nodded pertly, not trusting her tongue to really say anything more. She then turned on her heel and started to leave the office, with Kaatje, who quickly kissed her mother on the cheek, following out behind her.  
  
***  
"Nyugh!" Kaatje yelled that night as she threw her slender body against a large, stuffed dummy. Kaatje was dressed in a simple pair of black sweats and a funky, multi-colored tank. Her Keds were also multi-colored, and her hair was plastered to her face, dripping wet with sweat. She was in the basement of the Bel Air mansion she shared with her mother, physically training as her mother guided her through various martial arts kata.  
  
Kaatje had been training like this for as long as she could remember. Her mother had trained her well in karate, tae kwon do, judo, kickboxing, tai chi, yoga, and other various martial arts and physical exercises. Her mother had always told her that she had big plans for the young girl, but what, Kaatje had never really known. She knew that it concerned some ancient prophecy, and something called the Chosen One, but what exactly, Kaatje had never really known. The fifteen-year-old knew, though, that it had something to do with a mole on her shoulder, something her mother had referred to simply as 'the Mark' and something that her mother was very excited about. Kaatje had just followed in her mother's footsteps, doing what her mother wanted of her. Her way of being herself was, obviously, her style of dress.  
  
"Kaatje, you can take a break now," Skinner commanded, taking a seat on a metal folding chair. Kaatje got down on the ground and crossed her legs Indian-style, and took a gulp from a bottle of lemon ice water. "We need to have a talk, child," Skinner said to her daughter.  
  
"Yes, Mom?" Kaatje asked quite sweetly. Kaatje usually obeyed her mother and was very loyal to her. The two had never been extremely close, but the love had always been there.  
  
"It's about your new friend? Buffy? I don't think she's the right influence for you, Kaatje."  
  
"Well, why not, Mom? I barely even know her yet, and you-"  
  
"Barely know her either, I know. But there is something rather...off about her, Kaatje, something I don't quite trust. I just rather you wouldn't become too friendly with her."  
  
"Mom, I am fifteen now. Old enough to choose my own friends. And I really don't think you have any right to judge Buffy. Sure, she got kicked out of Hemery. But that doesn't make her a bad person, does it? I mean...people make mistakes."  
  
"And that's why I'm here, to stop you from making them. And I'm warning you, making friends with Buffy is a big mistake. She'll hinder your process in becoming the Slayer!"  
  
"How?!"  
  
"Nothing. Never mind," Skinner replied, wishing she'd bite her tongue. "All I meant was, you can't make friends, Kaatje. If you want to be the Vampire Slayer, you can't have any friends. You know the rules."  
  
"Well, maybe I'm sick of the rules Mom!" Kaatje bellowed, standing up. "Maybe for once, I just wanna be normal! I mean, hey, it's hard enough being the principal's daughter! I can't- Oh, Augh!" Kaatje screamed, and ran up the stairs of the basement, out into the kitchen, and then out the back door into the night.  
  
Skinner stood up to run after her daughter, but Kaatje had youth on her side, and thus was far gone by the time Skinner reached the back door. Skinner sighed, leaning against the doorframe, wondering where she had suddenly gone wrong.  
  
***  
Note: Hey guys, sorry for the delay in updating. My computer was down for sometime, and I have everything stored on here. Anyway, as for the chapter before this? Chapter 8? I just want to clarify that I got most of the names for the Slayers off of the various Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels out there. There might only be one or two who I made up (aah, yeah, Kiki Kidman and Betty Spring). The rest are from the show and the various Buffy novels so...make outta that what you will. And hey, keep r&r-ing yeah! The updates will be sooner now! Peace Out!  
  
*~*Amit*~* 


	10. Flashbacks, Runaway, and a Truce of Sort...

The House on Great Russell Street, England, 1974 (aka Council Headquarters)  
  
"Do you think either of us will ever make it as a Slayer?" Kiki Kidman asked Gretchen Skinner late one afternoon. The two sixteen-year-olds were quietly lounging in Gretchen's room, Kiki buffing her nails and Gretchen carving a stake out of an old desk that the custodian had been about to throw away.  
  
"I should hope so, Kiki. I mean, you've been in training since, what, you were eleven? I've been here since I was five. We must make it as the Slayer sometime."  
  
"I sure hope not, Gretchen. I mean, it's fun, you know, having a great figure and everything with all this training. But, the thought of being out there night after night, fighting vampires like William the Bloody and Heinrich Joseph Nest? It's not my idea of the perfect life."  
  
"Then perhaps you'll get lucky and won't be," Gretchen replied, setting the freshly carved stake down. Mrs. Giles would be pleased, Gretchen thought, looking at the beautiful craftsmanship of the stake. "All I know is that I do want to be Chosen one day."  
  
"Well, good luck to you then, Gretch, coz I'm not interested. I just want to fly back to Chicago and be the disco queen that I was born to be."  
  
Gretchen giggled at her friend. "Right, Kiki Kidman, disco queen. I can see it now, and frankly hun, it's not really all that pretty."  
  
"Says you, doll-face. Hmm, anyway, I've got to go down now. It's time for Mr. Bentley and me to train," the red-haired Slayer-in-Training wrinkled her pert nose as she set her nail buffer down. Kiki slid off the bed and onto her feet, her body lithe, her movements feline. "I just hope we move up from boring old staffs now, though. I mean, he cracked my nail on one last time!"  
  
"You know," Gretchen began, also getting up, "if you ever become the Slayer, your nails will be stronger than that."  
  
"Are you sure?" Kiki asked, suddenly interested.  
  
"Umm, no, not really, but it's been rumored. I mean, the Slayer does have super-strength and all."  
  
"I doubt that super-strength implies a perfect, unbreakable French manicure. Though, okay, one can dream," Kiki said. Both girls giggled as they left Gretchen's room and walked down the hall. "So, anyway, I know you wanna be the Slayer and all...but how did you feel when Mametsuki was Called?"  
  
"Not the greatest," Gretchen agreed. "I mean, from what I heard, Mr. Worthington had only just found her out as a Potential and had just reached there as she was Called. "  
  
"And eleven years of waiting just becomes boring after sometime?"  
  
"Amazingly so. Besides, I know I can handle the duties of a Slayer. The only friend I have is you anyway, and you're a Potential, so if I was Called..."  
  
"Nice dreams."  
  
"I know," the flaxen-headed girl said. "But seriously, I would kill to have those powers one day. I mean, to be the Chosen One, the Boogeyman of the creatures of the night...can you imagine having that kind of power?"  
  
"I'd rather just be the Boogeyman to Cher, thank you very much."  
  
"Big dreams."  
  
"Honey, we all dream. You wanna slay vampires, I just wanna slay the reputations of these so-called disco queens."  
  
The two girls stopped in front of large, oak, double doors. Gretchen went to pull it open and swore. "This door like never opens. We have to get Travers to fix it."  
  
"Please that old freak? He's horrible! Why they ever made him head of the Council, I will never know. Here, let me try," Kiki said, as Gretchen made space for her.  
  
"Better than his son Quentin, who I heard is next in running for Head of Council," Gretchen replied, moving behind Kiki.  
  
"Eew...now that's just pathetic." Kiki grasped the door knob and gently yanked at it for a moment. Well, at least she thought it was a gentle yank. The entire door came off it's hinges and sent the two Potentials flying back.  
  
Bryce Bentley came running out of the room, followed closely by Mr. Giles, Mrs. Giles, and Quentin Travers. "What just happened?" Travers asked gruffly.  
  
"We've found her," came Mrs. Giles' reply.  
  
"Found whom?" asked Bentley, curiously looking at the two girls as they tried to lift themselves up from under the shattered door.  
  
"The new Slayer," Mrs. Giles told him, pointing to Kiki.  
  
As pain and agony engulfed the Slayer, her friend was green with envy and red with rage.  
  
***  
  
Los Angeles, 1996  
  
"You sure you're going to be okay?" Pike asked Buffy the next morning, on her third day at Skeffington.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I mean, Skinner's only human. And an ex-Watcher. She can't possibly be evil. Just spiteful. And hey, it's cool. Her daughter and I are friends. So, you know, maybe I'll get some brownie points.  
  
"She has a daughter?"  
  
"Yeah. My age. Named Kaatje. Freakish dresser. Remember when we saw Clueless? At my place? She makes Amber - the red-head? - look like Cher."  
  
"Doesn't sound too pleasant."  
  
"No...it's really not. But she's got a sweet soul...and that makes up for a lot. Everyone else pretty much looks at me and thinks 'ooh, crazy blonde chick. Keep away, or she'll go all Fairuza Balk on you.'"  
  
"Fairuza Balk?"  
  
"Big bad in 'The Craft'?"  
  
"Oh, with Neve Campbell. Oh yeah," Pike said, starting to smile lustily. Buffy gave him a mock threatening look and Pike wiped the grin off his face, then flashed her a lopsided grin.  
  
"So...shall I join to help take of you? You know, you and me? Students together at Skeffyfields?"  
  
"Skeffington. And no. I'm here to attend classes, Pike, not poke around in custodial closets all day."  
  
"You won't be doing the poking," Pike replied, his grin growing wider. Buffy lightly punched his arm - well, light for her - and leaned to give him a quick peck on the lips.  
  
Pike grimaced as they pulled apart. "You're strong."  
  
"Yeah, I know. Pain, it comes with the Buffy Summers experience," the Slayer winked at home.  
  
"Hmm, so does pleasure."  
  
Buffy giggled, very gently pushing Pike away. "You're a sweetheart, but I've got class."  
  
"Come by for lunch?"  
  
"I'd love it if you did."  
  
"Great," Pike said, giving her one last kiss before riding off on his bike. Buffy watched him go, her heart not a little wistful. She'd rather spend the day with him rather than with the risk of running into Skinner. But, then again, she had to finish her school career in case she ever lived to see the day she'd graduate and get a real job.  
  
Buffy watched her boyfriend turn a corner and then turned around herself, walking up the concrete steps that led to the front of the private school. The young girl kept her eyes open for Kaatje. Even though Buffy was dead set against having any friends - Pike being the only exception because he had been in her life since just before she was Called - she felt some sort of connection with Kaatje. She was a nice girl, warm-hearted and caring. Much better than Skinner.  
  
Who was approaching Buffy that instant.  
  
"Where's my daughter?" Skinner demanded, her icy-blue eyes flaring as she stared the Slayer down.  
  
Buffy kept her own and coolly looked at the former Watcher, replying softly, "No idea. I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd rather not be late for class." Buffy moved to get past the principal who stepped in her way.  
  
"If you're lying..."  
  
"Interestingly enough, I'm not. But from what I've seen, Skinner, if she ran away from you, I'm not that surprised. You make an Amazon queen look like Mother Goose."  
  
"I warned you, Slayer..."  
  
"One, the name's Buffy, and two, I haven't seen your daughter, and three, you came up to me and attacked me. You're just lucky I didn't go all wild on you too. You know how we Slayers are. Anyway, look, Skinner, I haven't seen Kaatje around, but I'll keep a lookout for her now, since it seems like she went missing. But look, if and when I find her, I expect your Erica Kane attitude to drop, got it?"  
  
"Only if you quit with the Kendall Hart."  
  
"It all depends on you." Buffy replied, trying once more to move past the principal. This time, though, it worked, and Gretchen Skinner watched the petite blonde girl as she walked away to her classes.  
  
Skinner hoped beyond everything that the Slayer would track down her daughter. Being nice to her on the other part...but then again...if she were nice to the Slayer instead of being the hellbitch she was now, maybe Buffy would trust her a bit more, and her plan would be easier to carry out.  
  
She smiled to herself, satisfied with this minor turn of events. The Slayer would never know what hit her, Skinner thought, and then things would be as destiny had intended them to be. 


End file.
